The fine staff at the Children's Home Society of Washington have produced their characteristically comprehensive summary of budget items for human services. This is for the detail-oriented. 

Today is national children’s mental health awareness day, which gives us a great opportunity to talk about a win for children’ mental health in this past legislative session. Thanks to a bill that passed this year, children don't have to worry about cuts to needed mental health services. 

Back in 2007, the legislature passed a bill that, among other things, upped to 20 per year the number of therapy visits children on Medicaid could make to a mental health professional (the limit had been 12 per year.) That provision was set to expire on July 1, 2010.

This session, legislators passed a bill (HB 1373) to eliminate the expiration date on those services, allowing children to continue to get 20 therapy visits a year indefinitely.